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Jesper Ericstam: EPICA-ly Brilliant

(for all you science-heads, spot the elemental mistake in the above image) 

Fantastic news from the 2013 EPICA Awards, where two of Jesper's spots walked away with prizes capping a brilliant year for the big Swede. 

The EPICAs for those who don't know:

"...reward outstanding creativity and help communication agencies, film production companies, media consultancies, photographers and design studios to develop their reputations beyond their national borders."

At this year's awards, the envelope pushing Libresse spot took home a Bronze award, with a Gold award going to his marvellous IKEA 'Night Walkers' film. It's one of our most favourite clips and one that rewards repeat viewings. So watch it again!


Xmas Trip


Debenhams + John Lewis + Marks & Spencer x 400% saturation ÷ half speed = ?*

(*= all the current Christmas ads mushed together and played at the same time, with the saturation boosted and played at half speed in a video that's a lot like a tie-dye DMT trip straight from Enter The Void)

courtesy of Flo Heiss and his cool Thinking Making Sharing Tumblr


(any excuse to post an Enter The Void gif) 

Nice Shirt at The Movies


This past weekend saw the release of the hot new Alfonso Cuarón space film 'Gravity'. The following are a few thoughts after seeing the movie. 

The movie seemed to have the perfect ingredients for 'a great film'  - cult director, great cast, dreamy subject. It all added up to a rare thing at the cinema these days - an adult blockbuster. It was released in the US a month earlier than over here (we'll save the rant about why that still happens all the time for another blogpost) to one of the biggest October box office openings ever and to rave reviews.

The trailer looked amazing - A-MAZ-ING - not least because of the highly-illogical 2K resolution version of it you could watch on YouTube. 

If Gravity is as good a representation of space exploration as we're led to believe, it's amazing how everything looks a bit rubbish in space and breaks really easily.  
It surely had to deliver on the stratospheric hype behind it - we trust in Alfonso! Unfortunately though... it didn't quite manage it. 

Hate to say it, but the trailer is a big problem. Call it flogging the same dead horse that bolted a long long time ago, but again this is another case of trailer spoiling things by showing too much of the final film. If you've happened to have seen the trailer, you've probably seen a good third of the admittedly very tense action in the film. There's three big set pieces in the film, so by watching the trailer you've already knocked out one of them. 

(Having said that, there might be a vague whiff of ¡SPOILERS! in this review if you haven't seen it.)

This problem is amplified in this film particularly, as all the action is actually all very a bit... well, samey. The film is basically about bobbing about in space in varying degrees of peril, so once you've already been exposed to a good degree of it, there's not going to be too much else on offer.

"Bobbing about"
It's easy after a while to be desensitised to the peril, partly due to the trailer experience, but also due to the fact that by the time you've got quite a good way into the film, it's very obvious that the main character is going to survive, no matter what is thrown at her. By the time the film's big climax comes around, you're actually more exasperated by the inevitability of it all rather then left gasping at a miraculous space escape.

The most interesting scene is one where there's an unlikely reunion between the two main characters after you're lead to assume that one of them must have died. You sit up straight at this point at the possibility that finally, maybe, the film could go anywhere other then the increasingly obvious conclusion. Are they alive? Are they dead? Are they be somewhere between the two, between the heaven(s) and the earth?

 No, actually, they're not. It just turns out that the scene is actually just a dream one of characters is having (paging Bobby Ewing in Dallas), so any intrigue is washed away like a bit of old seaweed at low tide, leaving you instead watching a boring and quite distracting backstory unfold further.


This backstory felt shoehorned in, feeling almost as though it had been shot afterwards and slotted into the film to give it that sense of meaning, life and spontaneity that is lacking from the film in general, tying back to the central conceit of the film that it is just a couple of people bobbing about in space a bit.

It's a real visual, visceral treat this film -  the scene with a deconstructing International Space Station is expletive-inducing and alone is worth going to see in IMAX. Even the relatively mundane-seeming spacewalk in the opening scene is enough to induce clammy palms, long before the intense drama fully kicks off. 


There has been lots of discussion about Gravity's scientific inaccuracies, so we've posted this diagram to hopefully help clear things up. 
It would have been amazing if the film could have maintained this tension and intrigue all the way  but unfortunately it doesn't, leaving the film a few stars short of a full constellation.

High Praise Indeed


Apprentice mentor and noted cultural critic/loudmouth Sir Lord Sugar registers his approval of Stuart's new Debenhams Christmas spot.

We are blessed.

Waitrose
'The Story of Giving the Perfect Christmas Dinner'
by Stuart Douglas

In the second of three spots Stuart is directing this Christmas for Waitrose, 'The Story of the Perfect Christmas Meal', begins not on the big day itself but many months beforehand. 


Filmed on location at a turkey farm in deepest Lincolnshire, the spot shows the lengthy turkey tending our farmer goes through over the course of a year in the run up to Christmas. The stars of the film are the fowls themselves as they are cared for, fed and watched over by the farmer through rain, wind and snow. We end the spot in the family home, our farmer taking a well-earned rest before sitting down with the family for a delicious and well-deserved Christmas meal. Of turkey of course.

Stuart expertly crafts the farmer's story as we see the months roll by; revealing a wonderfully warm portrait of a farmer's work, aided by Roger McGough's cozy voice-over. The final scene with the family gathered around the table eagerly anticipating their Christmas lunch, will definitely put you in the mood for the fast-approaching festive season.

Debenhams
"Wishes Made Fabulous"
by Stuart Douglas

Stuart directs a wonderfully epic festive finale in the latest Life Made Fabulous campaign in a dazzling spot full of magic, wonder and romance.


The film continues the bold, cinematic style Stuart established in his two previous spots, with a cast of glamorous beauties who find their paths mysteriously intertwined. Centre to this story is a lovestruck couple who reunite at a glittering ice rink in a stunning castle location.

Along the way, we see an enchanting number of scenes and characters, all resplendent in their chic outfits from the Designers at Debenhams collection. One of the designers, Julien Macdonald, described the spot as “capturing everything that makes this time of year so special”.

The evocative Foxes track returns again, this time with a festive flourish, adding a sense of wonder and drama. In a first for Debenhams, the spot will also be shown in cinemas.

Stuart comes up trumps again delivering a dazzling film that is as extravagant as it is heartwarming - the perfect culmination to the department store’s 200th anniversary year.

Remember, remember...


Happy Guy Fawkes! Courtesy of Liz's Forvermark Diamonds spot. 

Waitrose "Community Matters"
by Stuart Douglas

Stuart reunites with Waitrose to deliver some early festive cheer in the first of three spots for their Christmas 2013 campaign. 


"The Story of Giving Something Back" draws attention to the work Waitrose and its staff members do for local good causes through their charitable Community Matters scheme. 

A small boy accompanies his Mum to pick up some pre-Christmas groceries and sees for himself the power of the small green coin given to him at the checkout. It's with this token that he chooses which local cause will receive the support of the Waitrose store - in this case the fantastic work the Waitrose partners do to help with providing a festive meal for the elderly folk of Dibden in their weekly lunch club.

Stuart famously directed Waitrose's TV campaign throughout the 2000s, establishing a distinctive look and feel for the brand with a series of films applying Stuart's signature impressionistic photography and intimate storytelling. His reunion with Waitrose has been heralded by DavidReviews, with the site opining that the two are the "Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton of advertising... both Waitrose and Elizabeth Taylor always looked at their most radiant when attached to their one great love".

Keep tuned to see more of Stuart & Waitrose's love affair very soon.

New Director Signing:
James De Frond

We are overjoyed to be welcoming James De Frond to our company's growing and diverse roster. 


James emerges from a TV comedy background - having produced, written and directed some of the funniest comedy shows over the past few years - he brings a reel full of laugh-out-loud funny moments, a genuine love and understanding of the mechanics of comedy and a brilliant repertoire of strange but true stories. This is James' first foray into commercials and he has chosen Nice Shirt Films to explore it with.


London-based James honed his comedy chops whilst still a teenager, working with Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones at their phenomenally successful company, Talkback, on such comedy greats as Brass Eye, Da Ali G Show and I'm Alan Partridge. He was soon researching and writing with burgeoning comedians like Jimmy Carr and Leigh Francis in the early days of E4. His directorial breakthrough came whilst shooting Francis in "Keith Lemon's Very Brilliant World Tour". This led to a long term collaboration between the two where James developed intense relationships with each of Francis' Bo'Selecta characters including a coquettish liaison with Mel B. Spending time in each of Francis' characters' heads taught James to find each character's voice and comedic capability. 


Further productions James has co-written, produced and directed include VIP and The Morgana Show, both for Channel 4. It was James who developed all of Morgana's male characters and although initially Morgana hated him for it (she'd only ever mimic-ed women and there were lots of tears), it led to the Best Breakthrough Award at the British Comedy Awards. James has also been nominated in the Bafta Best Writing category.


James brings a fresh approach to comedy direction; exacting hilarious, multi-layed performances and situations from a beguiling array of characters. Highlights on his showreel include a Tourettes-addled hillbilly family at a baseball game, the untold story behind "Michael Jackson's iconic Billie Jean music video and a glimpse into Terry Wogan's integration into post-retirement life in Jamaica.


He continues to develop, write, produce and direct comedy. He is in development on a BBC prime time comedy sitcom and a sketch show for FX in the US: his first production meeting for the new show took place on the set of Arrested Development - specifically the Bluth family model home kitchen.

You can catch all of James' work over on his showreel at the website.

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